At present, road information is managed in units of administrable districts such as countries, prefectures, cities, or wards, and pieces of information on changes in road shapes (such changes may hereinafter be referred to as “road shape changes”) are not unified. Grasping road shape changes so as to create a road map involves determining the positions and shapes of new roads.
One possible method may involve updating a road map by determining how a road shape has been changed on the basis of, for example, a digital map issued by the Geographical Survey Institute of Japan and probe data (track information) acquired from vehicle terminals.
A configuration known for a device for generating such a type of map information is one wherein the road connection situation is correctly estimated on the basis of position information acquired by vehicle-installed terminals so as to generate an updated map (e.g., Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2017-97088).
However, road shapes could be complicated and involve various patterns, e.g., a crossroad being changed intoarotary, and hence it may be difficult to generate an updated map simply from map information and position information.
Accordingly, the configuration described in document alone is insufficient, and there is need for further improvement.